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1 John Three: Shaky Territory

This chapter is one of those that have the potential to be downright scary, because I’m all too aware of my own shortcomings as a person. Daily I still struggle with sin, daily I fail miserably. Most days I probably don’t know the half of my sinfulness according to God’s standards. To hear John talking, I’m as lost as the next guy because as John says, “No one who abides in him keeps on sinning; no one who keeps on sinning has either seen him or known him.”

See why it’s scary? There are some people out there who are convinced that true Christians are now sinless and living perfectly holy lives before God. They would probably assume me a reprobate, because I’m not perfect. Nowhere near close to it.

But John isn’t saying that anyone who sins is not saved. He says, “Whoever makes a practice of sinning is of the devil.” See the difference?

I like to illustrate it this way: if you were to follow me around and take snapshots of me in moments where I’m not acting very Christlike, you would be able to take a few pictures. Given a long enough period of time, you could probably take quite a few pics that would make me out to look like your typical lost non-Christian.

But…follow me around with a video camera, and it’s a different story. The majority of what you’d see is a simple guy trying to live a life of holiness. Are there glitches? Sure. But as a whole, you’d definitely see a Christian.

That’s what John is talking about- a lifestyle. Like I said two posts ago, Christians, as a whole, act like Christians. What’s your lifestyle saying?